EuroLeague Spotlight: Early-Season Stories, Panini Instant Cards

Written by: Dallin Duffy

The cobwebs are off and EuroLeague basketball is back in fine form. With a month and change of the 2025-26 season in the books, storylines are taking shape. Hot starts are graduating from fluke watch to legit status, star players are announcing awards candidacy and clubs are zeroing in on championship aspirations.

One of the biggest narratives has been Hapoel’s emergence. The newcomers spent the summer months signing big-name players ahead of its first EuroLeague season, and all those accusations paid off. The squad won six of its first eight games to near the top of the standings.

Also making a bid for the top spot are Zalgiris, Zvezda and Olympiacos, all of which are firmly in title contention. Reigning champs Fenerbahce and Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid are off to so-so starts, but are brilliant bets to turn things around and make a run at the Final Four.

Individually, no player enjoyed a stronger start to the season than former league MVP Sasha Vezenkov. Through eight games, the Olympiacos staple averaged 18.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and a team-high 23.1 PIR. Paris Basketball’s Nadir Hifi is the competition’s leading scorer at the time of writing, with 22.2 points per match.

Other standouts worthy of a shout include Kendrick Nunn, Kevin Punter, Sylvain Francisco and Dzanan Musa. Each of those players, along with the aforementioned Vezenkov and Hifi, earned Panini Instant cards that celebrated their star play in collectible form.

Things are just getting started. With months of action ahead, the 2025-26 EuroLeague campaign is already exciting and is only going to get better as the stakes rise. Through Panini Instant and a handful of pack-in-box programs releasing in the near future, collectors can start or add to their library of EuroLeague basketball cards